


trace along my skin

by aalphard



Series: banana fish prompt fills [2]
Category: Banana Fish (Anime & Manga)
Genre: 10k of pure shame, Alcohol Mentions, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ash Lynx is a Tease, Awkward Flirting, Coming Out, Humor, M/M, Mentions of homophobia, Tattoo Artist Ash, University Student Eiji, also known as the fic in which i wrote the word 'ass' too many times, drunk eiji, eiji is a flirty drunk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:13:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24379267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aalphard/pseuds/aalphard
Summary: “What if,” he giggled and his voice does something to Ash’s lower half. “What if I told you I wantyour nametattooed on my ass? Would you do it then?”Ash couldn’t help the laugh that broke through his throat. “You don’t evenknowmy name!”“I don’t care if it’s,” he stopped to think. “Well, no, really. I don’t care if it’s something weird likeFergusorStompieor something weird like that. I want. Your. Name. On. My. Ass”, he made sure to pause, tilting his head to the side and grinning at Ash as if he already knew what the blonde was thinking about. “And do you want to know why?”“Why?”“Because it’s going to be yours.”Right.or ash is a tattoo artist and had been asked to do some pretty weird stuff already. but a drunk guy coming at him and asking for his name on his ass? that was a first.
Relationships: Ash Lynx/Okumura Eiji
Series: banana fish prompt fills [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1727179
Comments: 19
Kudos: 184
Collections: Banana Fish





	trace along my skin

**Author's Note:**

> based on this prompt:
>
>> no you can't get tattooed drunk. come back in the morning and if you still want your name on my ass we'll talk

_i kept guessing the finger_

_that traced along my skin_

_jay ashford_

* * *

Calm nights were something Ash wasn’t used to.

Usually there would be people running around and smoke filling the shop – as much as Shorter asked the customers not to smoke inside, it never really meant anything. Ash wasn’t complaining about that – he didn’t mind as long as he could get to work. His drawings were always the ones people asked for the most and he lived to see people happily walking away with something _he_ made etched onto their skin forever. It made him feel important, somehow. It was fun. It felt nice. Someone had liked what he made and decided they wanted it on their skin forever. Talk about responsibility…

He liked seeing the shop full, he liked to talk to those strangers who would, very soon, have his art on their skin. But it was at these quiet moments, when he was all alone in the shop, that he could think about anything other than his job – not that he didn’t like it. It was actually far from that – he loved it. It was the best thing that had ever happened to him, to be given a chance like that. But he liked the quiet and he liked not having to run around looking for whatever it was that someone was _demanding_ all the while screaming at the back of the shop.

Ash caught himself doodling on his sketchbook. Its pages were filled with doodles and a few elaborate sketches – some of them still unfinished, lacking that one thing Ash thought was essential. He still had time before he had to close the shop – it was late-night at a Saturday and he was the lucky guy in charge of closing up today. Lucky him.

He didn’t know how long he worked on that specific sketch when a group of people right outside the shop started talking loud enough for him to hear and his concentration was gone. Well. At least he had made any progress.

There were three men standing across the street. They trip over each other and laugh as if that’s the funniest thing in the world, talking loudly and swaying from side to side, constantly bumping into each other. One of them even managed to bump into a fire hydrant, toppling over it and headbutting one of the others and both of them ended up tangled up on the ground while the third one remained swaying from side to side, clutching at his stomach and laughing out loud.

Ash knew he was probably weird for staring so much, but he couldn’t help it. It was just _so funny_ and these guys were so weird. How old were they? Probably barely allowed to drink, anyway, considering how wasted they were.

It’s only when they are all on their feet that one of them directs his attention to the store. Ash thinks he might be going crazy when he waves, a big smile tugging the stranger’s lips up. For a moment, he just stares. _Did I really see that or am I hallucinating because I’m tired?_ It _had_ been a pretty hard day, after all. But eventually he gives in and waves back.

He tries looking back to his sketch, but everything he was thinking about before is suddenly gone. He catches himself stealing glances at the weird group, giggling outside and gesturing like toddlers. They are _so wasted_ , Ash thinks. He hopes their hangovers aren’t as bad as his first one was – he couldn’t even open his eyes for a few hours. Everything hurt and he was sure he was going to die.

The bell by the door rang softly when one of them pushed the door. It was the cute one. Maybe this was Ash’s lucky day after all. His eyes were hazy and the stench of alcohol was _absurd_. He hiccupped lightly and propped himself, holding onto every piece of furniture he could find so he didn’t fall down again. He dropped his whole weight on the balcony, smiling up at Ash with a childish grin – how _cute_.

“Hi,” he sighs, tilting his head to the side. “I’m Eiji.”

Ash snorts, nodding. “Hello, Eiji. What can I do for you in this beautiful evening?”

“Hm,” he closes his eyes, letting his head fall back. “Is this shop yours?”

“No,” Ash chuckles, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “I wish! I’m just a second-hand artist who has the pleasure to close up the shop on a Saturday night.”

Eiji hiccups once again and pouts. “It’s my friend’s shop,” Ash continues.

“Well,” his tongue rolls slowly against his lips. “I highly doubt that anything about you is second-hand,” and Ash shouldn’t have been thinking weird things but he couldn’t help his thoughts when this guy was _clearly_ giving him bedroom eyes and grinning to mischievously at him.

“Y-yeah,” he muttered. _Damn, what’s up with this guy?_ “Having fun with your friends tonight?”

“Yeah,” he giggles. “We’re roommates. Well, not really. I just got into college! I mean, it has been a few months already, I’m not a child,” he seems pretty upset and Ash raises his eyebrows questioningly. “I can take care of myself, okay!”

Ash wasn’t going to question that. It’s not like he particularly enjoyed to talk with drunk people in the first place and he had his fair share of Shorter trying to convince him he was actually an heir to some weird influential family somewhere. Ash wasn’t good with drunk people and he was definitely not good with drunk people who happened to be flirting with him. It was just how it is.

“So!” he yelled, startling himself and almost losing balance. “Can I take a look at your work?”

He didn’t even have time to reply before the boy was stretching his whole body forward and peeking at the sketchbook Ash had forgotten about. _Fuck_ , he thought. _Why did I have to be the one to close the shop today?_

“Oh!” he giggled. “That’s like… really good. Like. Really, really good. Why aren’t you the owner?"

Ash snorted. “I wonder…”

“Yeah, man!” dark brown eyes shoot up at him and Ash feels a knot on his throat. “Your things are _good,_ ” and then he giggles when Ash’s whole face scrunches up in embarrassment. _Does this guy even realize what he’s saying?_

He pays attention to him. There’s a dimple on one of his cheeks. His lashes are long and his eyes are the most beautiful thing Ash has ever seen – and he’s seen a _lot_ , for someone who wasn’t even that old. His hair is slightly curled at the edges and his cheeks are _too much_ , slightly pink. Ash has a hunch they’re the softest thing in the world.

“Look,” the guy suddenly speaks up. “I don’t want to be a weirdo or anything like that, really!”

Ash chuckles, nodding. The boy bites his bottom lip and sighs and _for fucks sake_ Ash is about to lose his sanity. He’s only a man! “Are you seeing anyone? A girlfriend, maybe?”

“No,” he snorts, shaking his head.

“Then a boyfriend, perhaps?”

“Also no,” Ash chuckles. “Not that I wouldn’t mind any of those. I just haven’t had the time lately. You?’

“Oh,” he huffs, looking down at his feet. Ash cocks his head to the side and is tempted to ask if he said anything wrong when the boy’s head suddenly shoots up and he grins again. “I was thinking you might think I was weird for asking that out loud!” he laughs. “But I’m not! Well, I am. But not because of that! Am I making an idiot out of myself?”

“Well,” Ash pretends to think, letting a smile tug his lips up. “The first time I saw you, you tripped over your own feet and then over a fire hydrant. So I highly doubt you could do anything more embarrassing than that.”

“Ah,” he sighs, closing his eyes for a second. Ash can see his cheeks getting darker and he doesn’t know why that makes something tug at his heart. “You saw that…”

“Yeah, great first impression!” he chuckles. “But it’s alright, who hasn’t tripped over one of these things, right?”

Eiji suddenly props himself up, swaying from side to side and pointing at Ash, looking at him through his lashes. _Okay, this is totally unfair_ , Ash thinks. _I’m only human._ The black locks fall onto his eyes and he shakes his head to keep them away, losing balance a few times before standing up at the _weirdest_ position Ash has ever seen someone stand in. He should have closed the shop by now, but his feet seem to be glued to the floor.

“I want you to tattoo me,” he says groggily.

“I can’t,” Ash answers without even thinking. “It’s illegal. You’ve been drinking and you can’t really make any rational decisions now, can you?” it’s when Eiji pouts that Ash snorts. “You can’t be drunk and get a tattoo at the same time, buddy. I can’t work on you if you’re wasted. It’s the law.”

“But I _want_ you to work on me,” he smiles sweetly, but something twinkles in his eyes and Ash swears he’s going to die. _This is totally unfair_ , he thinks.

Ash had to take a deep breath, closing his eyes for a second, before he could even start to think about what he was going to say next. He was trying to be a responsible person there, wasn’t he? He _couldn’t_ simply say _yeah, sure, let’s do it_ and wake up the next day with a restraining order and lose his job, could he? But this guy didn’t seem like he’d be shaken off with reason and Ash sure as hell didn’t know what to do. _I’m_ _never closing this shop ever again, Shorter._

“Right.” He says, finally. “But I can’t do this today. Maybe we could talk about this when you’re a little less, uh, drunk? And then we can talk about what kind of work you’d like.”

All of a sudden, Eiji drops his whole weight onto the balcony, staring up at Ash through his lashes. _How can he be so adorable and yet so erotic at the same time? It should be a crime_ , he thought. Once he was close enough, Ash could smell his cologne over the lingering smell of alcohol that came as a wave whenever he exhaled. If anyone told him that’s the way he’d be spending his Saturday night, he wouldn’t believe them.

“What if,” he giggled and his voice does _something_ to Ash’s lower half. “What if I told you I want _your name_ tattooed on my ass? Would you do it then?”

Ash couldn’t help the laugh that broke through his throat. “You don’t even _know_ my name!”

“I don’t care if it’s,” he stopped to think. “Well, no, really. I don’t care if it’s something weird like _Fergus_ or _Stompie_ or something weird like that. I want. Your. Name. On. My. Ass”, he made sure to pause, tilting his head to the side and grinning at Ash as if he already knew what the blonde was thinking about. “And do you want to know why?”

“Why?”

“Because it’s going to be yours.”

_Right._

“Right! Okay, fine. But I think it’s time I give you back to your friends. They must be freezing out there and I really need to close the shop.”

“No, but I’m serious,” Eiji glares at him, lips pressed tightly against each other and furrowed brows as if he’s trying to make a point. _Yeah, my name on your ass. Sorry, buddy._ _Not going to happen any time soon._ “I really want you to work on me.”

Ash thinks for a second. Yeah, it felt like he was suggesting _other_ kinds of ‘ _working on’_ – not that he would mind, after all. Ash didn’t really go around fucking random strangers who showed up at his shop, _no_ , they at least had to buy him a drink and convince them they were _good_. But there was this guy right there who seemed to have been drinking for the first time in his life, completely wasted, and _demanding_ that he somehow put his name on his asscheeks and _to be honest_ it wasn’t that bad. Maybe he could do that.

“Yeah, alright,” Ash says, finally. “But I’d like to do that when you’re a little less drunk, preferably when you’re sober.”

Eiji pouts. “But I really want your name on my ass! _Please, please, pretty please?”_

_This guy…_

“Alright,” he says, finally. Eiji’s eyes widen and he’s grinning as if Ash just told him the best thing ever. _What the hell am I doing?_ “Come with me to the back.”

“Oh, wait!” he yells, suddenly. “I’ve got to tell my friends they can go home without me!”

Ash gulps when Eiji leaves the store and runs around excitedly, gesturing things to his friends and for a second, he considers closing up and leaving him out just so he doesn’t have to deal with that.

But he doesn’t.

And in a few minutes, he has Eiji lying down on his stomach and mumbling something Ash can’t really pay attention to _because he’s staring at his ass_ and he would be lying if he said it didn’t make his blood rush a little bit faster to his dick. _Come on_ , he thinks, _what am I? A horny teenager?_ He might as well be – because when Eiji wiggled his hips a bit, Ash’s breath hitched and he felt his heart pound. _Why am I doing this?_

“By the way!” Eiji yells, suddenly propping himself on his elbows and turning his head so he could look Ash in the eyes. “What _is_ your name, after all?”

Ash snorts, shaking his head. _Wouldn’t you like to know?_

“You’ll know when you look in the mirror,” he whispers, bending down just a tiny bit – and it takes every bit of self-control he has to not grab his ass and squeeze it. He wonders how Eiji’s voice would sound like saying his name, what it would sound like _moaning_ his name, if he’d yelp or gasp when Ash squeezed his butt. _I could do it_ , he thinks. And he shakes the thought away when he remembers he’s still in the studio. He could get arrested for this.

Eiji is silent for a few seconds. And then he giggles, wiggling his butt.

“You’re mean,” he whines, dropping his head onto the chair once again.

_Yeah_ , Ash thinks. _I’m a mean second-hand artist who’s taking advantage of a drunk kid who suddenly blurted out he wanted my name on his ass. What a great end to a Saturday night._ The only thing he could think of was how he was going to demand a raise – there is _no way_ he wouldn’t. He didn’t get paid enough for this. And he was about to lose it.

_Right_ – so it wasn’t like he was actually going to do it.

But he was going to do it.

“You might feel a little pain,” he warns and instinctively, Eiji stiffens his body. “Try to relax or I won’t be able to do it properly.”

Eiji giggles. _It sounds so dirty_.

The next thing he feels is Ash’s warm fingers, grazing the space at his hip, lifting the hem of his shirt and then he’s telling him to hold the cloth up. _This isn’t a bad sight_ , he thinks. Maybe if he’d been just a little bit more sober, he’d be embarrassed – because Ash could see _everything_ there was to see.

“You’re pretty,” he blurts out and jade-green eyes shoot up to him.

“Am I, now?” Ash chuckles, shaking his head. “You might feel something cold now, alright? It’s normal.”

Eiji hums, closing his eyes and letting his head fall back once more. The world is spinning and he braces himself for the pain. Instead, he felt Ash’s hands pressing against his hip bone – a chilling and yet smooth feeling starting to trail from his waist down to his tailbone. He wondered if it was the alcohol in his body that made it easier to nullify the pain he was supposed to be feeling. Either way, he didn’t really care.

Ash didn’t speak.

_What the fuck am I doing_ , was going through his head over and over again.

“Does it hurt?”

“Mm, doesn’t hurt at all,” Eiji hums when he feels something sharp sliding through his skin. From what his friends told him, it was supposed to hurt, sometimes they even bled and Eiji was terrified. “You’re really good at this.”

Ash snorts and Eiji giggles to himself. “Try not to move,” he says, inching closer.

His body language screams at him – telling him to focus, telling him to do this right, telling him to control his urges and _not_ pin this poor defenseless boy down and do whatever it was that he wanted to do to him. Ash cocks his head, a bit too close to his ass, a bit too close for it to be considered _okay_ – but none of that was okay, they were already far from okay and Ash legitimately thought he was losing his mind.

It felt stupid and it _was_ stupid, but at least he wasn’t going to prison for tattooing a drunk guy.

“Feeling okay?” he whispers, leaning forward on his knees and looking at him.

Eiji blinks lazily, smiling sweetly. “Mmhm” he hums. “Is it done?”

“It’s done” he smiles, green eyes amused. “How about I help you get up and I’ll call you a taxi?”

Eiji nods, lifting his arms so Ash can help him get on his feet. It feels like he’s taking care of a pretty huge baby and the thought makes him chuckle as Eiji stumbles a bit to the sides, trying to get his pants up without falling over.

Maybe he shouldn’t have done that – did that count as taking advantage of a drunk person?

“Are you bringing me home?” Eiji asks.

“I’m calling you a taxi,” he answers through his shoulder. “The faster we get you home, the faster _I_ can go home.”

“You could go home with me, though?” he giggles. “You just saw my ass and your name is in it. What do you have to lose?”

Ash shakes his head, dismissingly, and lets a chuckle break through.

“You’re drunk,” he says. “I’m not. The last thing I want is trouble.”

“So…” he giggles, walking slowly towards Ash. He wraps his arms around Ash’s body and dips his head in the space between Ash’s shoulder blades, sighing. “If I wasn’t drunk, would you have gone for me?”

He wants to scream.

Out of anything that could’ve possibly gone wrong tonight, _that_ had to happen. Ash wouldn’t call himself unlucky, per se, but unfortunate things kept happening to him all the time and it was _honestly_ something he could live without. He was tired and was kind enough to close the shop today because Shorter said something had come up and he wouldn’t be able to. Ash was a good friend – he _was_ , really. But now he was starting to regret it – he was only human, and it was hard to keep himself in check when there was a guy _who was very much his type, thank you very much_ , hugging him from behind and asking if he’d take him home and if _he’d go for him_. Fuck.

He wants to scream and to punch something.

Eiji is warm against his back and Ash is sure he just let an inhuman noise come out.

“I’ll take you home,” he says, finally.

He instantly regrets it.

* * *

Getting Eiji home had been a task.

He wasn’t good with alcohol, Ash noticed, because as soon as they got out of the car, Eiji reached forward and let it all out, crouching down enough so it didn’t fuck up his clothes. The driver had said something about taking care of his boyfriend when they went out drinking the next time and Ash snorted, shaking his head. It seemed pointless to explain that _this isn’t the case at all_.

Maybe he was just really weak and couldn’t stomach alcohol because he couldn’t even walk properly and getting him to climb up the stairs was _hard_. Eiji giggled like a kid every time he tripped on his own feet, lunging forward and being caught right before he hit his head on something. Thank God for Ash’s good reflexes.

_I don’t get paid enough for this_ , Ash thinks when they finally tumble inside Eiji’s apartment.

“Alright,” Ash says when he lets go of Eiji, the boy flopping down onto his couch unceremoniously. “Tomorrow, when you’re sober, you take a good look at the ink in your ass and thank me for it.”

Eiji _whines_. “Are you leaving already?”

Ash sighs, shaking his head. _This guy_ , he thinks, _why did his friends just let him be? Why were they totally okay with him saying he was going to get a tattoo when he’s this wasted?_

“You need to sleep,” he whispers softly, kneeling down just so he can look him in the eyes. “It’s best if you can get into bed and sleep the drunkenness away. Or else you’re in for one hell of a hangover.”

“Don’t leave,” he cries out, reaching out for Ash and pulling him in.

_Fuck._

“I don’t want to be by myself,” he sighs, dipping his fingers on Ash’s hair, holding him in place. “You smell nice. _Please?_ Stay with me?”

Ash closes his eyes for a second, feeling Eiji playing with his hair. If anyone had told him that’s how he was spending the last few minutes of his Saturday, he would’ve laughed and scoffed because _hell no_. But there he was, being embraced by the drunkest stranger he has ever met, after writing his name on his ass. What a _wild_ night.

Finally, he sighs, nodding against Eiji’s body.

“I’ll stay until you fall asleep,” he says, already regretting it. “Deal?”

Eiji doesn’t let him go, but Ash can feel his heartbeat and it’s all the answer he needs. He allows himself to stay in his arms a while longer, feeling his warmth and the fingers that softly stroke his hair, curling a few strands and straightening others. It’s nice, Ash thinks, to have someone touch you so casually like this. He doesn’t know any sort of warm, careful, soft touch. Maybe that’s what he was longing for, after all.

Not that he’d ever admit it out loud.

Finally, he breaks free from the touch and Eiji whines in protest. He grins, getting up on his feet again and looking around the apartment. It’s neat and clean and Ash wonders if he doesn’t have a roommate, if he doesn’t have anyone who shares his bed. Because he doesn’t _know_ him and he just agreed to stay without even asking about it.

He just wrote his name on this guy’s ass without knowing _anything_ about him.

“Come on,” he says. “I’ll get you to bed.”

There was a light giggle coming from him and Ash couldn’t help the blush that spreads across his cheeks. _Of course it would sound weird_ , he thinks. This whole thing is weird, anyway, so it’s not like it matters.

Ash thought it was hard getting him home – and it was even harder to get him to his bedroom. His directions weren’t clear at all and he seemingly lost every bit of balance he had before, so he had to hold him close, closer than it would be considered acceptable, and the hot puffs of breath on his neck weren’t helping his _situation_ at all.

Eiji had his arms across Ash’s neck and it felt like he was taking advantage of something – even though he was just trying to get him to bed and get the fuck out. He wasn’t one of those guys. He wouldn’t be.

When he finally gets the room right, he guides Eiji to a single bed, despite the room being large enough to house a double bed. He sat down clumsily, swaying to the side a bit, smiling up at Ash. He couldn’t help the sweet smile that tugged his own lips up, trying to hide his blushing cheeks in his hair.

“Now, sleep. It’s best if you stay on your side,” he says gently.

“Can’t you stay?” Eiji pouts.

Ash sighs. “No, I can’t stay”

“Well.” he whines. “Can’t you at least tuck me in?”

Now. He _could_ say no – and it’s probably the best thing to do. He _should_ say no because he’s tired and he wants to go home and take care of his own stuff and probably jerk off until he falls asleep because _man_ is he horny right now. But he nods. He makes his way towards the edge of the bed and smiles when Eiji snuggles his pillows, yawning. He draws the mountain that is the fluffy blue duvet over Eiji’s shoulders and smiles down at him.

“Can you go to sleep now?” he asks, stroking Eiji’s hair softly.

“Hmm,” he hums. “That’s nice. Can you do that a while longer?”

Ash ponders about it. What’s so bad about doing that? He wasn’t taking advantage of him.

“Sure,” he answers, finally. Eiji giggles. “I’ll stay until you fall asleep, then.”

“Yeah,” Eiji yawns.

It’s definitely weird, this whole situation. If Eiji hadn’t been drunk, this whole thing wouldn’t even be _considered_ possible. For starters, he would never get a tattoo _nor_ flirt shamelessly with a guy he didn’t even know. And he’d never ask for said stranger to _put his name in his asscheek_. And sleeping while there’s a stranger inside of his house?! Leaving him be when he wouldn’t even be _awake?!_ Or at least it’s what Ash tells himself. He doesn’t look like the kind of guy who would do either of those things. Then _why?_

Soon enough, Eiji’s breathing has come to a rhythmic pace and his whole body relaxes under Ash’s touch. _He’s cute_ , he thinks, still stroking his hair. It’s soft – and Ash thinks he could sit here for a few more minutes, watching him sleep so peacefully.

Well.

That would make him a weirdo, wouldn’t it?

He gets up slowly, trying not to make much noise. Eiji whimpers in his sleep and Ash turns around to see him staring at him through his lashes, brows furrowed and mouth open in protest.

“Are you leaving already?” he asks in a whisper. “Don’t you want to snuggle?”

He almost snorts. “I would like that, yes”

Eiji shifts a little bit and slides the duvet up, patting the tiny space available next to him.

“But not today” he continues, and he can swear Eiji pouts. “I have to work tomorrow morning and you’re in no condition to do any of that today. I’ll leave the shop’s address somewhere in here and I’ll slide the keys under the door when I leave.”

“But!”

“Sleep, Eiji,” he whispers back before sliding through the door and off the room.

He waits a few minutes, standing in Eiji’s living room – maybe to get his thoughts in order, maybe to see if he comes after him, after all. But he doesn’t. Ash wants to peek inside the bedroom and see for himself if he finally fell asleep or if he’s waiting for him to get back and snuggle him. He wants to – he’s not going to lie –, and also so much more. But he has morals. He won’t. Definitely won’t.

Ash paces around his living room for a bit, looking for a pen and paper – and when he finally finds them, he scribbles the shop’s address and considers writing his name as well. He decides, then, that it’s best if he doesn’t. Who knows what he’ll think about him when he wakes up – if he even remembers him at all. The thought that he might not remember anything makes something tug at his heart and all of a sudden, he’s out of breath. _Shit_. No. He’ll definitely remember. He has a _name_ on his ass – it’s unlikely that he’ll forget. Right?

He leaves the piece of paper under a tiny book that Eiji left on his coffee table. He takes one good look at the apartment before closing the door behind him, locking it and sliding the keys under the door.

Alright.

What a wild night it was.

_Maybe if you come back tomorrow,_ he thinks, _if you remember this whole thing, maybe we can have a real conversation about that tattoo on your ass_.

* * *

The first thing he feels when he wakes up is pain. _Ugh_ , so much pain.

And then he thinks about the dream he just awoke from. He wasn’t one to remember his dreams, and most of the time it felt like he hadn’t dreamt at all – but _today_ he did, and what an amazing dream it was. There was a guy and his voice was soft and kind, his touch sweet and mesmerizing and Eiji wanted to feel it again, wanted to nuzzle up to his touch and never wake up. His arms were strong, tucked tightly around him as if trying to keep him up, as if he was afraid to let go, as if he could fall at any second – but he’d be there to catch him if he did. He was _beautiful_ , he thought, but he couldn’t quite see his face, couldn’t quite distinguish him from the background static. His eyes, though, were the most beautiful thing Eiji had ever seen and he was sure he’d remember it to the day he died.

Funny, huh? How our brains can make up stuff like this from thin air.

He was groggy, sweaty and uncomfortable – and his head _hurt_. He didn’t know what time it was. Honestly? He didn’t know anything. He didn’t know where they went to after Sing and Yut-Lung decided they’d take him out drinking despite him telling them _it was fine, i’m fine, i just want to go to bed_. Did they get him home? Did they tuck him in?

Fuck.

His head was spinning and he needed a shower. He could call them later.

Getting up, he swayed a bit, vision still blurry. _Fuck,_ he thought, _how much did I drink?_

It took him a few seconds to finally manage to stand up straight, and from there he walked slowly towards the bathroom, still unsure, still thinking he might end up butt-first on the floor. His head was already hurting enough – he didn’t need his ass to hurt as well. He was still wearing the clothes he put on last night and he couldn’t help but feel icky all over. _They didn’t even get me my pajamas_ , he thought. _How rude_.

He stares at himself in the mirror – there are bags under his eyes and he looks _wrecked_. He just came out to his family and, needless to say, they didn’t take it that well. Sing had found him crying in a far corner of the library and invited him to hang out. He just forgot to mention the alcohol. Lots and lots of it. Maybe a few other things Eiji didn’t want to try out – but he drank a lot. He drank until he forgot about his family and their slurs and about how mean they had been. It had taken a lot of courage and it just. Didn’t work out in the end. They didn’t accept him and that was fine – he didn’t really need to tell them anything, living on his own overseas, but… well. It still hurt.

When he turns around, though, something in his reflection catches his eye. _Uh?_ There’s something staining his skin, something he’s not really able to read because he’s panicking and every fiber of his body seems to be _burning_ and he’s sure he’s going to _kill_ Sing and Yut-Lung. He doesn’t even bother to pick up his clothes, running around his apartment completely naked, looking for his phone.

_I’m going to kill them, I’m definitely going to kill them both._

“Yeah?” Sing’s voice is hoarse and Eiji wonders if he called at a bad time.

_No,_ fuck _it. He’s not the one who has a tattoo on his ass._

“I am going to _kill_ you,” he growls.

“What the fuck, man? What happened?”

“Don’t _what the fuck, man_ me!” he yells, pacing around his living room. “I want you and Yut-Lung here in _ten_ , I don’t care how. Otherwise, I swear on my own life, I’m going to _kill you both_.”

His head is spinning and nothing makes sense anymore.

Alright, yeah, he had been desperate and he had been destroyed by so many harsh words. He did go out with them and he did allow them to buy him drinks – he _downed_ them all, not even caring anymore. But it was all a blur after that – he vaguely remember getting home and being tucked in. And that was it.

But there was something written _on his ass_ and he didn’t remember getting a tattoo.

_Fuck._

He flops down on the couch and sighs. Loudly.

And then he crouches, holding his head on his hands, closing his eyes shut so hard they hurt. _Fuck, fuck, fuck._ Why _him_ , of all the people in the world?! He just wanted to forget about the harsh words for a bit – he’d done it, finally, and he knew they were coming, he knew they wouldn’t exactly accept him the way he was. He was ready for that. But they still stung, still burned him and he decided he’d let Sing and Yut-Lung help him out, make him drink until it didn’t really hurt anymore. And that seemed like a good idea.

Except it wasn’t – because _now_ he had something on _his ass, for fucks sake, who does that?_ Whose idea was that? Oh, he was going to _kill_ them, kill them both and then kill himself because there was _no way_ he’d be able to live with a tattoo on his ass.

He didn’t even want to know what it said. He didn’t want to look at it, acknowledge it.

Yeah.

He’d kill them both. Definitely.

But first – first he needed to put some clothes on. Yeah, that would help.

So he gets up, still swaying a bit from the shock, and slowly makes his way towards his bedroom. He avoids the mirrors, he avoids anything that could possibly send him back to his _ohmygod there’s something on my asscheek and i am most definitely going to kill my only two friends because there is_ something _on my ass and it’s their fault and–_ mood.

What a great weekend this one will be.

They don’t take as long as Eiji thought they would. They arrive with a cup of coffee and a pretzel for him – trying to make him less angry by giving him food. Eiji knows their tricks and he knows he shouldn’t take them, shouldn’t play along because _he’s so pissed_ but he’s also hungry and his head hurts and he knows coffee helps. He takes them.

“So,” Yut-Lung yawns, clearly uninterested. “Why did you want to kill us?”

Eiji glares at him – and his look alone is enough to make him shrink a bit.

“Which one of you put me up to this?” his voice is hoarse and he’s _pissed_.

Both of them furrow their brows at once, cocking their heads to the side as if they have no idea, as if they have no clue. Eiji wants to punch them – punch them _hard_ and then punch himself because he allowed them to take him out and _this_ happened.

He gets up, huffing, and slides his sweatpants down so his ass his exposed.

“What the fuck, man!”

“Shut up,” he growls. “Look at my ass.”

“Wha–”

“ _Look. At. My. Ass.”_

They do – and they take a few seconds to understand what’s going on and when they do, they _gasp_ and Eiji wants to dig up a hole in the ground and stick his face in it because this whole thing is _so embarrassing_ he’s not sure he wants to be alive anymore.

“Oh, man,” Sing almost yells, getting up on his feet and walking around the living room, hands on his head. “Oh, man, this is bad!”

“You better explain this,” he sighs, pulling his pants up again. It wasn’t exactly nice to let your friends see your bare ass first thing in the morning, was it? “Why the hell didn’t you stop me from getting this _thing?”_

Yut-Lung chuckled. “Well, I don’t remember much, but I’m pretty sure we weren’t with you when you decided to get someone’s name on your asscheek.”

Eiji feels his cheeks burn and suddenly his whole body is shaking. He falls to his knees, hiding his face on his hands. _I have a stranger’s name on my ass_ , he thinks, _this is the worst day of my life._ Because _of course_ the best thing to do after being called by horrible names was to let his friends drag him to a club and get him wasted _and then get a fucking tattoo on his ass_. Fucking hell, he didn’t even know what to think.

“I don’t remember anything after you guys making me down those shots,” he grunts, voice being muffled by his hands, still pressed against his face.

“You’re better than I am,” Yut-Lung chuckles. “I don’t even remember that.”

Sing sighs, sitting down on the couch. “I do.”

All of a sudden, Eiji whips his head and almost _crawls_ on top of him, aching to know more, to know just _what the hell they were thinking when they decided this whole thing was a good idea, drunk or not._

“But you’re not going to like it.”

“I’m already _not liking_ anything about this,” he grits his teeth. “You better tell me or I swear to god I’ll throw up on you.”

“Fine,” he sighs, shaking his head. “You dragged us to a tattoo parlor last night, after we left the club. You said you liked watching the guy behind the counter draw when you were getting home from college and you told us to wait outside.”

Yeah, he remembered the guy.

He remembered watching him through the crowded shop, looking at him from a distance and thinking if he’d ever look up, at him, but he never did. He was pretty and he was always smiling at people who came in and Eiji thought one day he’d be able to walk in so casually like that and get him to smile at him, too.

“You were talking to him for a while,” Sing continues. “But then you came out and told us to go home and that you got yourself a date or whatever.”

“Fuck,” Yut-Lung whispers. “Did you finally have sex? Did he tattoo his name on _your ass_ after Eiji-boy _just had sex for the first time?”_

No.

He’d remember it. He would definitely remember it. He _had to._

His cheeks are burning in embarrassment and he wants to cry because this is definitely the worst day of his life.

“Eiji, I’m so sorry”

“Why did you leave?” he whines, already feeling the tears pooling in his eyes. “You should have known you couldn’t just _leave me there_. I don’t even know what happened to me, you know? This whole thing is terrifying and I have a _fucking name on my ass_!”

It’s not their fault, Eiji knows this.

They were all wasted and he _did_ remember telling them he was _awright_ at some point. He did tell them to leave, he did tell them he didn’t need them to coddle him and that he’d get home safely. He just… didn’t know. He didn’t know what he was supposed to feel when everything was falling apart and _it was too much and now he had a stranger’s name on his ass._

“Does your butt hurt?” Yut-Lung asks all of a sudden.

“You can’t just ask something like that,” Sing snorts, shaking his head.

“Well!” he protests back. “We can come to know lots of stuff by knowing if his ass is hurting.”

Eiji blinks up at him, vision still blurry through his tears. Yut-Lung smiles down sweetly at him.

“For _starters,”_ he licks his lips mischievously. “If you _did_ have sex with the mysterious man you’ve been pining for…”

“I _wasn’t._ ”

“Sure, whatever you say.” he rolls his eyes. “But if you _did_ have sex, your butt is bound to be a little weird. And a tattoo is bound to make things worse. Is it hurting at all?”

“No,” he pouts.

“Great, then you didn’t have sex and you didn’t get a permanent tattoo,” he grins. Sing stares at him in disbelief and Eiji is still frozen, sat on the floor and trying to see through his tears. “Congratulations, now you know the dude isn’t a freak and you don’t need to file a restraining order.”

Eiji gulps. _Right, it’s not permanent. It’s not permanent and I didn’t have sex and it’s all good._

“Eiji,” Sing calls him, his voice sweet and careful, as if he’s afraid Eiji will start bawling his eyes out at any second. “Come on, we’ll make you breakfast and then you’ll take a shower and we’ll try to remember everything that happened last night bit by bit.”

He nods, not really grasping his words. _It’s not permanent, it’s not permanent._

Sing helps him to his feet and walks him towards the bathroom, closing the door behind him. He says he’ll make him breakfast and Eiji can hear him talking to Yut-Lung about something, but the words are muffled and don’t really mean anything to him. His heart is still racing and the only thing he can think of is that _it’s not permanent, thankfully, it’s not permanent_. But his heart doesn’t slow down, still pounding hard enough for him to worry that his eardrums might burst. _Fuck,_ he thinks, _I’m not drinking ever again._

Slowly, he undresses, dreading what he sees in the mirror.

He never really liked his body, if he’s being honest, and he’s always tried his best _not_ to look at himself too much, but he wants to, now. He wants to see just _what_ someone else would see if he ever decided to undress in front of another person, he decided to see if he had any strong points, any desirable characteristics.

But his eyes can only focus on the black line on his ass.

So Eiji turns around and focus his eyes on that, trying to read what is says. It _is_ a name, he realizes, and his heart stops for a second. It _is_ a name and Eiji thinks he’s going to _die_ because he’s sure he said something weird the night before and the handsome guy behind the counter was laughing at him and telling him to go home – but Eiji could be quite persistent, he knew that, and then he ended up writing his name with a sharpie on his ass.

What a mortifying sight.

He closes his eyes for a few seconds, and when he opens them again, he reads it – and repeats it on his head a thousand times, over and over again, while he takes his shower, scrubbing hard enough for the skin to break.

_Ash_.

_Ash_ was written on his ass, in a beautiful handwriting.

But as beautiful as it was, Eiji wanted it _gone_. He didn’t want that on his skin anymore, he wanted to be _clean_ and when that happened, he’d try to forget about it – he’d find another way home so he didn’t have to walk in front of the shop anymore because he’s sure he had made a fool out of himself and he was _so embarrassed_ he wanted to _die._

Sing calls his name and Eiji doesn’t answer.

He’s still trying to get it out of his ass when he opens the door and wraps him in a towel, getting him out of the shower. He was crying, he notices, and his ass is hurting now. The skin is tender and the name is still there, smudgy, but it’s there. _It’s so embarrassing_ , he thinks while Sing is getting him to lie down and helping him put his underwear on, _this whole thing is the worst_.

“Oi,” Yut-Lung calls from the doorframe, and Eiji only covers his face in shame.

He’s only in his boxers and his two friends are just standing there after seeing him naked _twice_ in the span of an hour. They got wasted and Eiji seemingly flirted with someone and had that someone write his name on his ass.

“There was a piece of paper tucked under the book on your coffee table,” he grins, shaking it on the air. “Lover-boy must have brought you home and tucked you in safely after writing his name on your ass.”

“Can you not say he wrote his name on my ass?” Eiji whines, still covering his face.

“Well, but he _did_ ,” he chuckles.

Sing shushes him and Eiji feels the mattress beside him cave in. There’s a hand on his hair and he sobs because _he’s so ashamed and Yut-Lung is an asshole who doesn’t know when to stop teasing and it’s too much and he’s already so embarrassed he wants to_ die _and he’s only making everything worse._

“Fine,” he sighs, and there’s someone else sitting beside him and Eiji looks up at them through his fingers. “There’s an address in here. Some weird shop called _Tattoos Ahoy!_ ”

Eiji snorts, and all of a sudden, they’re all laughing, curling up against each other and he’s not thinking about the name on his ass or about anything else because it’s nice being able to laugh like this after everything went _so wrong_ before.

Sing wipes a tear from his eyes before grabbing the paper. Eiji is still chuckling lightly.

“Alright,” he says, finally. “So do you want to go there?”

“Hm,” he hums. “I don’t know. It’s embarrassing, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Yut-Lung doesn’t even blink before answering and Sing shoots him a wicked glare. “Well, it _is_ embarrassing but at least it’s not permanent, right?”

Eiji chuckles, nodding.

Well, _did_ he want to? What was he supposed to say, anyway? _Hi, I’m the weird guy from yesterday and I want to thank you for not_ actually _inking my ass while I wasn’t really consciously making decisions and thanks for getting me home and not sexually assaulting me. That was very nice of you._ Of course not.

But he didn’t want to stay home and stare at the name on his ass or literally rip his skin off trying to get it off. He sighs, hiding his face once again. His head hurts and he’s really hungry and he really wants a coffee.

“We can talk about this later,” Sing says softly. “Let’s have breakfast first.”

* * *

It’s weird to see the shop in daylight.

Eiji doesn’t really know what to do, standing on the somewhat crowded parking lot, staring at the windows as if it’s the only thing he could do. He told Sing and Yut-Lung he’d be fine on his own and sent them both home – and even though he was most definitely _not_ fine, he knew it’d be worse if Yut-Lung were to be here and tease him all the time over the stupidest things. He already knew he fucked up and he didn’t need a reminder of it.

The tattoo parlor was crowded, people going in and out, some bare-skinned and some not that much. Eiji thought about getting a tattoo at some point – he figured everyone did –, but decided not to. It didn’t suit him, he thought, it would just make him stand out even more.

So it’s only fair that when he was drunk he wanted one.

He didn’t need to worry about fitting in when he was drunk, he didn’t need to think about anything other than the fact that he was _very drunk, thank you very much_ , and probably the fact that he had a massive crush on the handsome guy who was always behind the counter, every night looking more attractive than the night before.

It’s only fair that he did what he did. He blamed it on the alcohol. _Partially._

But he stands there, trying to hide behind the cars, only because it’s not the handsome, blonde guy, who’s sitting behind the counter, but a weird dude with a purple mohawk and pierced eyebrows. He has a few tattoos hid along his chest, Eiji notices, even from afar, and he can’t really help the tug in his heart.

Eiji sighs, scratching his neck and thinking if that’s really what he wants to do. It seems pointless. And _what_ is he going to say, anyway?

“Debating on getting a tattoo?”

He _jumps_.

Actually jumps – and when he turns around, there’s a woman standing behind him, grinning and tilting her head to the side. She doesn’t seem to have any visible tattoos and Eiji lets out a breath he didn’t even know he was holding in.

“Not really,” he chuckles.

“Too afraid to come in?” she giggles. “Come. I can pave the way for you.”

Eiji lets her lead the way, following her through the parking lot and towards the entrance of the shop. A tiny bell resonates when she pushes the door and walks in, holding the door for him – and he pauses. All of a sudden, he wants to walk away, wants to say _sorry, i forgot i had something i needed to do_ and walk away and go back home and try to get that name out of his ass. He couldn’t have used a washable pen, could he? He had to go straight to the sharpie and stain his ass for days with his name. _Pervert._

A few heads turn towards him when the door opens and he’s out of breath for a few seconds. His eyes dart to the nice woman who still holds it open and he tries to breathe, he tries to calm down his heart.

“Come on,” she says softly, cocking her head to the side.

He steps inside the shop and he feels stupid.

No one’s really paying attention to him, eyes glued to sketchbooks and portfolios and they’re all talking so loudly that he can’t even hear the song that’s playing.

“Shorter!” she yells.

Eiji shivers, taken aback for a second. The mohawk guy looks up, a wide smile tugging his lips up and to the sides and he opens his arms, giggling when she reaches the balcony. He watches them talk for a while, not sure if he should approach him and ask about the guy who put his name on his ass. How should he start a conversation like that, anyway? _‘Hi, is there anyone named Ash working here? Can I talk to him? Oh, no, it’s just… I was here last night and he kind of drew on my ass with a sharpie and I can’t take it off and I’d just like to thank him for not_ actually _tattooing his name on my ass because I’m sure I asked him to. So… yeah. Can I talk to him for a second?’_

Yeah.

He wasn’t saying any of that.

“Who’s that friend of yours over there? New boyfriend?”

“As if,” she giggles. When she turns around, she has a sweet smile on her face. “I met him at the parking lot. He seemed to be hesitant to walk in so I told him I’d help.”

“Ever the big sister, Nadia,” he snorts when she throws a light punch at his shoulder. “Thanks for lunch.”

“Yeah, yeah,” she waves her hand dismissingly. “I’ll be going then. Good luck on getting your new tattoo, boy.”

Eiji can only nod before she’s opening the door again and walking away from the shop.

“So,” _Shorter, was it?_ “What can I do for you?”

He opens his mouth – and all of a sudden, nothing comes to mind.

“I… uh,” he mumbles out and Shorter chuckles.

“What? Want to be a wild guy for once, go against your parents’ orders or something?” he chuckles. “We have quite a few of those, you can look at our artists’ portfolios if you’d like, see if there’s anything you’d like to have permanently etched onto your skin.”

Eiji chuckles nervously along with him, hands tucked into his pockets so that no one sees how hard he’s shaking. He wants to ask about the handsome man who stands behind the counter every night, wants to ask his name and _then_ he’ll go home. He doesn’t want a tattoo and he doesn’t want anything other than just… thank him for not actually doing it. Maybe. Or maybe he wants to get pissed and yell at him for even drawing _on his ass_ when he was that drunk because that _could_ be classified as sexual assault. He thinks. He doesn’t know.

“Yo, pineapple head!”

His heart is suddenly pounding in his chest and he’s absolutely sure he’s going to pass out.

It’s the handsome man who stands behind the counter every night, it’s the man who saw Eiji’s ass when he was wasted, who wrote his name on his ass with a fucking _sharpie_ and Eiji isn’t sure what’s going through his head and _fuck_ he’s so much better up close.

“… and I was thinking that maybe…” he blabbers on and on, not really noticing Eiji standing there. But when he _does_ , he widens his eyes and a mischievous grin pulls his lips up. “Oh! It’s you!”

Eiji wants to curl up to himself and _die_ right then.

“Hi.”

“You don’t really remember anything, do you?” he asks, chuckling. Eiji nods. “Yeah, I figured. But you’re here. I didn’t think you’d come back…”

Eiji opens his mouth – and closes it again. He doesn’t know what to say.

“You’re a completely different person when you’re sober.”

“Yeah,” he giggles. “That… uh, I don’t think that’ll ever happen again.”

“Oh?”

His eyes are _beautiful_ , Eiji thinks.

“Uh, what’s going on?” Shorter asks, looking at them as if they’re both insane.

“I’ll tell you some other time,” he chuckles, still looking at Eiji. “Can I take a break now? There’s something I need to talk to him about.”

He doesn’t even wait for an answer, grabbing Eiji by the wrist and pulling him towards one of the rooms in the back of the shop. His heart is pounding in his chest and he’s dizzy – he feels like he’s going to pass out at any second now. Everything is _too much_ and he’s starting to think he might be going crazy because there is _no way in hell_ this whole thing is real.

It’s only when he closes the door behind them that Eiji breathes again.

“I didn’t think you were going to come back,” he repeats, crossing his arms over his chest. “I figured you’d just forget about everything.”

Eiji nods. “I spent most of my morning in a haze,” he admits. “I didn’t… I think I dreamt about you? And I couldn’t really see anything but your _eyes_ and _fuck_ , I was terrified when I saw…”

He stops.

He doesn’t want to say it.

“My name on your ass?” he laughs. “Hi, I’m Ash.”

_As if I don’t know that_ , he thinks. He hopes Ash doesn’t see the blush spreading across his cheeks, doesn’t see the way his whole body shakes and the way he tries to avoid looking at him directly. _This guy should be illegal._

“I still don’t remember much,” he admits.

“Yeah,” Ash nods. “It’s why I thought you’d never come by again.”

Eiji scans the room. Was it here? Did he lie down on the floor or something? Did they do anything else? Did they kiss? Eiji hopes they didn’t – because he’d like to remember that. He’d like to remember how soft Ash’s lips had been, how his hair would feel between his fingers, how they’d fit in each other’s embrace.

His eyes stop on a desk. There are papers scattered on top of it, but only one of them is colored. Only one of them stands out from the rest and Eiji feels like someone just punched his gut.

“Is that…” he huffs, taking a step back. “Is that me?”

“You’re not the only one who spent the day in a haze,” he chuckles. And then he shrugs. “I figured I’d try to look you up if you didn’t show up again. Maybe send you a postcard or something. Do you like it?”

Eiji nods, his voice suddenly lost.

Ash smiles down at him sweetly, still standing in front of the door. Eiji wonders what he’ll do if he crosses the room and kisses him. He wonders if he’ll react at all, or if he’ll grab him by the shoulders and be disgusted like his family was. Or if he’ll kiss him back and wrap his arms around him and pull him closer until it feels like they’re one. And then he snorts. Ash cocks his head to the side, biting his bottom lip.

“You saw my ass,” Eiji laughs. “I just showed you my ass out of nowhere, didn’t I?”

He laughs along with him. “You were very persistent, if I must say so. I don’t think I’ve ever had anyone _demand_ a tattoo with such fervor. What was that about?”

All of a sudden, Eiji is no longer laughing. Ash walks up to him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“Is it a sensitive topic?”

“No,” he answers, and then shakes his head. Tears are already pooling in his eyes and he feels stupid. “I mean, it shouldn’t be. But it is. Uh, I… I told my family about, uh, I came out.”

Ash’s expression softens, and he smiles once again. It’s not wicked, it’s not apologetic. It’s a sweet smile, and Eiji allows himself to smile back.

“They didn’t really like that,” he says, shrugging. “They don’t really like me being here, I’d say. And then my friends had this stupid idea and we got wasted to forget about it and then I had the stupidest idea ever and now we’re here.”

“Yeah, it was pretty stupid,” Ash chuckles, wiping away a tear with his thumb. The skin he just touched seems to burn now and Eiji almost whimpers when he lets go of his face. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” he smiles. “I’m okay now.”

Ash nods, his hand still on Eiji’s shoulder. His touch is warm and soft and Eiji wants him to embrace him, to wrap his arms around him and pull him close and just… let him stay there for a bit. He wants to close his eyes and feel his heart beating under his ear, under his touch, and he wants to dip his fingers in his hair and pull him down and maybe touch his lips, not even with his own, but with his fingers, just to see if they’re as soft as they seem to be.

He’s hopeless.

“Thanks,” he says, all of a sudden, and jade-green eyes flick to his own eyes and he feels himself shrinking under his glare. “For not actually tattooing me or… you know. Doing anything else.”

He can’t help but hope he won’t say something along the lines of how Eiji isn’t his type.

But he doesn’t. He chuckles, and shakes his head.

“I wanted to,” he admits, cocking his head to the side. Eiji swears his heart stopped. “I really did want to accept your offer to snuggle and maybe I wanted something else.”

His hands hold Eiji’s face up and all he can think about is that _fuck, they’re too close_. Their noses touch and Eiji swears he can see tiny specks of something darker in his eyes and he smells _so nice_ he wants to close his eyes – but he doesn’t, because he has _such beautiful eyes_ that it would be a waste not to look at them.

“But I have morals, you know?” he chuckles, getting closer and closer until their noses are touching. He doesn’t advert his eyes and Eiji can’t bring himself to do it, blinking slowly as if he’s afraid to miss anything. “Hey?”

“Y-yeah?”

“Can I kiss you?”

“Yeah,” he huffs.

He doesn’t close his eyes until he feels Ash pressing his lips to his. They’re soft – softer than Eiji imagined they’d be, and he almost purrs. They’re warm and Eiji wants to melt, but Ash is still holding his face up, still keeping him in place and he’s glad he is because otherwise he’s sure he’d have fallen down by now, knees bucking under his weight.

Ash tilts his head to the side and Eiji’s stomach coils in excitement – there’s something burning in his tummy and he feels hot all over. When Ash presses their lips together once again, there’s something wet inside of his mouth and Eiji hums, not really knowing what to do, not really knowing if that’s what he’s supposed to do.

He mimics what Ash is doing and earns a hum in response, Ash’s fingers tightening their grip on his face, dipping in his hair and pulling him even closer and he’s melting against his touch, too hot and too melted to do anything other than let himself be consumed by the eruption that was the man holding his face up, kissing him and making him forget what his name was, for a second.

Ash tastes like coffee and cigarettes and Eiji doesn’t mind it all that much.

Eiji whimpers when Ash breaks off the kiss, their noses and foreheads touching, both with their eyes closed, panting a little bit. _Fuck,_ Eiji thinks, _is that what I’ve been missing on all this time?_ He opens his eyes first. Ash has long lashes, he notices. His brows are slightly furrowed and Eiji wonders if he did something wrong.

It’s only when Ash opens his eyes that Eiji really does feel like he’s going to fall, knees suddenly bucking under his weight, head spinning – because his eyes are _dark_ and Eiji almost drops his head onto his shoulder so that he can think properly about _anything_ without getting distracted.

He wants to kiss him again.

“Come with me,” he says, wrapping his arms around Eiji’s waist. “I’ll tell Shorter I need to do something”

“Where are we going?”

Ash grins, something mischievous lurking behind it. Heat pools in Eiji’s stomach.

“You found me,” his eyes sparkle. “I’ll get you home and we’ll talk about getting a permanent tattoo on your ass. You _did_ tell me it was going to be mine. I’m holding you to that promise, buddy.”

Eiji wants to die.

“Did I?”

Ash chuckles, nodding.

“I guess I should keep my promises, then?” he grins.

He feels Ash’s grip on his waist tighten and for a second, it’s hard to breathe. He growls, capturing his lips once again and Eiji feels like he might die at any second now – from how hard Ash is holding him, from how _wild_ his kisses are, from how hard he wants him.

Maybe having Ash’s name on his ass isn’t so bad after all.

**Author's Note:**

> never in my life i imagined i'd write the word ass so many times but hERE WE ARE


End file.
